


Of course I have scars... I've lived over 900 years, after all...

by Waffles_Are_Exceptional



Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons)
Genre: Daddy Issues, Dead Aja, Dead Archie, Dead Nari, Douxie is a broken boy, F/M, Friendship, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Scars, Steve misses Eli Pepperjack, Survivor Guilt
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-08-13
Updated: 2020-08-13
Packaged: 2021-03-05 23:27:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,148
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25883587
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Waffles_Are_Exceptional/pseuds/Waffles_Are_Exceptional
Summary: It's been two years since they fought the Arcane Order, and Jim and Claire have moved in together. Douxie, Steve, and Toby are roommates in college, and as close of friends as anyone can be... But they still have their secrets.Douxie is usually the first one up in the mornings, but when his best friends come crashing into his room to wake him up, he doesn't have the time to cover his scars...
Relationships: minor Steve Palchuk/Eli Pepperjack - Relationship
Comments: 2
Kudos: 69





	1. Battle of the Arcane Order

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **I know this fic isn't perfect, but bear with me, it's my first! Also, I changed some important details in the first chapter since first posting it!**
> 
> **Some may notice that I removed the Rape/Non Consensual tag and the Underage tag, and that's because those are only briefly mentioned in this fic, and not actually depicted or presented in any other form, or actively happening to any of the characters.**
> 
> **Any artwork in this fic is my own. You may use my art for your own fics, as long as you don't forget to give me credit and ask first! That's all, folks!**

The battle against the Arcane order was a bloody one... a painful one... One moment, Archie was at Douxie's side, the next, he was ash and bones, burned by fire greater than his own... Bellroc's fire. 

Douxie's longest friend, his closest companion, was gone in an instant, never to return. It felt almost like it hadn't happened, like Archie was back at the shop, drinking tea, and reading a good book... but he wasn't. He was _dead_.

Douxie had no time to grieve. He fought Skrael with all his ability, with all his rage, his eyes glowing with power. He was so furious he didn't notice when he'd already lost. He felt a weight lifted from his right shoulder, and time stopped as he tried to strum... but nothing happened. He looked down at his arm... but it wasn't there...

It hit him hard that he was missing his arm from his elbow down... it was falling to earth, without him... The only thought that swirled through his mind was the realization that he didn't know how to cast spells using one arm... He couldn't strum his guitar... he was useless...

Skrael knew that, too, grinning at him with soulless, pitiless eyes. Douxie stared back into those eyes in shock, his widening in horror as gravity began doing its work.

And he was falling, eyes refusing to close in unacceptance. He wasn't going to die... It wasn't possible... He'd lived for over 900 years and **Now** he was going to die!? It just didn't feel real to him.

********

********

He heard someone screaming, but the sound barely registered in his brain. His tears were defying the same gravity pulling him down, flying high above him, carried by the wind. He found his situation almost humourous since only a few months prior he almost died from the same fate... He managed a small, weak chuckle before the impact. 

It felt like someone crushed him with a bowlder, flattened him like a piece of paper... and he was dead... But then his eyes blinked awake, to find Nari standing over him, hands on his heart and head... She didn't look right. Her eyes... They were devoid of life.

She fell, like a leaf being blown by the wind. Douxie wanted with all his might to catch her... and reached out to do so with an arm that wasn't there... to find it _was_ there. He realized his arm had been re-attached, held together by a green substance, like Morganna's hand.

He caught her, who 's neck landed softly in his hand, barely brought down by gravity. He lowered her slowly to the ground next to him, and Claire got down on her knees, taking Nari from him and cradling her.

Douxie was in a daze, watching, emotions ablaze inside his heart as Claire wept over their fallen friend... He understood what Nari had done. She told him how her life magic worked, and he understood why she used it on him... they were friends, but still...

An unbearable wave of guilt washed over Douxie as he stared at her lifeless form... "No, no, no, no..." He lowered his face and covered it with his hand in shame.

he felt a hand on his shoulder, and he didn't need to look to know it was Toby's. Still, he looked back at Toby, thankful for the comfort.

Toby stared stoically into the distance, and sighed, lowering his head woefully, "It's done... There's nothing that can change that... and no amount of guilt can bring her back..."

"Yeah..." Douxie's voice cracked in sorrow. He managed to pull himself slowly into a sitting position before Toby and Jim helped him to his feet. He looked at each of the faces of his friends until his eyes drifted to the ashy bone carcass not far from him.

Douxie sucked in a breath, an unbearable ache deep in his chest, and he broke away from the support of Toby and Jim. He made his way slowly to his familiar, holding his arm, which was numb from blood beginning to flow through it once more. He landed on his knees in front of Archie, falling down on his elbows and creating a protective covering over his fallen friend without touching him.

The scent of rotting flesh filled Douxie's nostrils, and his overwhelming emotions flowed out of him as sobs racked his body, his tears sizzling as they fell onto Archie's disfigured form.

He laughed out another sob, "Farewell, dear, dear Archie... farewell..." He said, a warm, silent stream of tears flowing freely from his eyes.

Everyone else's attention was drawn from him back to Nari, and they watched as her body glowed, and crumbled to leaves and flower petals, flowing like a winding river, before scattering in the wind. 

But Douxie stayed crouched over his friend, silently thinking of every precious moment, every memory they had shared together... and he closed his eyes.

An even deeper sorrow washed over him as Nari's petals brushed against his cheeks and arms on their way past, and her wind carried his longest friend away with her...

Douxie stared as they drifted away and disappeared into a red sunrise... and for the first time, he was without Archie by his side...


	2. Pancakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Toby burst in on Douxie as he's changing...

Douxie's eyes shot open, but he didn't move any more than that. He'd been having that memory... that **nightmare** replaying in his dreams for so many nights... he'd lost count. It had been two years since the Battle of The Arcane Order, but still, Douxie was haunted by the memory it left behind. He'd thought he was over the guilt... the pain... but still he felt it. Replaying over and over in his mind.

He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes as he sat up, his sheet rolling off of him. He looked at his alarm and groaned when he realized it was noon, flopping back down into his bed and slamming a pillow over his face, "You Idiot, Douxie! Bloody _Idiot_!" 

He wasn't used to waking up early on his own... Archie had always gotten him awake on time, made sure he didn't go to work without any pants on and forced him to properly socialize instead of sitting off by himself and being a "recluse" as Archie would so delicately put it... Douxie just lay there for a moment, sighing into his pillow and warming his face with his breath. He winced at the smell, and threw off his pillow, spryly sitting up criss-cross applesauce and tying his hair in a bun.

Douxie stretched out his arm, his magic arm brace spinning and glowing to life. His teeth were instantly cleaned, having the appearance of crystal white once more. He smiled to himself in satisfaction, getting out of bed and stretching, before grabbing a white (most definitely unwashed) button-down from his floor he had worn the day before and using the same trick on it to make it clean, and beginning to slip it on.

"So... _that's_ why you don't have a toothbrush?" Toby asked unabashedly.

Douxie looked over his shoulder to the door, noticing his two roommates standing there. Steve's face went ablaze with embarrassment, and he covered his eyes with his hand, stumbling around and squeaking out, "Sorry, sorry, sorry!" Before stumbling unto the doorframe, getting knocked on his butt.

Toby, on the other hand, was un-ashamedly staring at him, "Dude, I knew about your sweet tats... But... You have _Scars_?!" He asked, his expression looking like a worried mom, but his tone sounding like an excited nerd.

Steve shot up from the floor, scrambling to Douxie and looking him over hurriedly, "What?! Doux, are you okay?!"

Douxie acted as if having scars scattered down the entirety of his back was entirely normal, shrugging, "Yeah... Of course, I have scars. I've been alive for over 900 years, after all..." Douxie said. He chuckled uncomfortably, "I mean, you would too, if you lived as long as I have-"

Toby poked Douxie on the shoulder, "But how'd you get em?" He asked, becoming increasingly suspicious every moment.

Douxie cleared his throat, "Uhm..." His voice cracked, and he winced. _curse my never aging voice box!!_ "A lot of them I don't remember... I got a few from some bad run-ins, battling demons for centuries, falling on a sharp rock while constructing Merlin's tomb a few centuries back, a knife fight with a crazy ex... Funny story, actually-!"

"And what about _that_ one?" Toby asked, roughly poking at the largest, most jagged scar.

Douxie backed up nervously, rubbing his neck, "Oh, yeah... _that_ one... eheh..." He laughed nervously again, something they knew he only did when he was hiding something 

" _Doux_." Steve said sternly, his arms crossed. His eyes, however, betrayed his irritated exterior, filled to the brim with worry.

The way Steve was looking at him reminded him of Archie so, _so_ very much. Ever since they found each other, Archie had always treated him like a son... but also a best friend. Douxie winced, pulling on his shirt quickly to cover his back. Uninvited memories flooding into his mind, and he lowered his head, brow scrunching in distress, "Oh... Uhm..." His lashes fluttered, his eyes shimmering, his mask on the tender edge of shattering.

Steve and Toby's interrogation came to an end, and they looked unsurely at each other. Toby got closer to him, placing a sympathetic hand on his shoulder, "Hey, Douxie... hey... You don't have to tell us..." He said softly.

Douxie lifted his head to meet their eyes, "No... No, I will... You've both told me all of your secrets, haven't you?" His expression changed to one of purpose, though still lacking his usual heart, "Before Merlin took me in, I lived with my _father_..." Douxie said "father" as if it were a burden, a curse upon his tongue.

Toby looked confused, but Steve's eyes widened. He was familiar with the bitterness Douxie used with the word "father"... He only thought of his biological father with the same malice... he understood the tale that was about to be told, and he had to work diligently to contain the raging flame building within his eyes.

Douxie continued, "In a less precise way of putting it, he wasn't a kind man. I-I thought it was normal... that every child was treated that way by their parents... but then Archie came along... and when he saw what was happening, and he told me I was being vocally and physically abused... I didn't listen... I didn't know where to go... I-I felt trapped... It was only after I got this..." He traced the large jagged scar running down his back through his shirt, "...I finally listened to Arch..." He looked like he was about to cry, but he didn't. He'd cried his last on this particular subject centuries ago.

He sucked in a fresh, cool breath of air, clearing his voice from its former burden, "Archie was the father I had been searching for in Merlin... If only I realized that sooner..."

Steve placed his hands firmly on Douxie's shoulders, and even though his eyes looked at him as if he were the most delicate creature on earth, his stance conveyed something much different. Respect and understanding.

Steve placed his hand on the back of Douxie's neck, and pulled his head forward, tucking it under his chin, his other hand lightly holding Douxie's forearm.

Toby placed a comforting hand on Douxie's upper back.

Steve sighed, his neck vibrating on the top of Douxie's head, "I wish I knew sooner... We could have bonded more over our buttsnack dads."

Douxie let out a small laugh, pulling away and looking up into Steve's eyes, and they shared a moment of serene stillness, basking in the fact that they had been through similar experiences... Even though it wasn't something they should've been happy about... they were.

Douxie grinned, looking as though a heavy burden had been lifted from his shoulders. "Thanks, both of you." Douxie turned to Toby and hugged him gracefully. He then turned to Steve and punched him in the shoulder, "Alright, lads! I'll make some pancakes!" Douxie said cheerfully.

"Uhhh... We already ate breakfast, like, three hours ago..." Toby said.

"And who said we couldn't have pancakes for lunch?" Douxie asked playfully, having to reach to be able to drape his arms over his roommates' shoulders.

Toby brought his hand up to his chin in thought, and then nodded, "True, true."

Steve budded in nervously, "Uhhh, bye the way, we actually woke you up cause we have a problem..." Steve said.

"Alright, lay it on me!" Douxie asked, still feeling light as a feather.

"We kinda might, have a succubus tied to the treadmill..." Steve said, wincing.

Douxie stared at them in surprise for a moment, his good mood dissipating. He groaned, slapping himself in the forehead exasperatedly, "Fuzzbuckets..."


End file.
